The Dark Republic
The DARK Republic Magic School The Magic School of The DARK Republic is an institution designed for the teaching of magical arts to students (or "Chelae") under the direction of magic teachers (or "Cardinalis"). It is a non-government, independent, private school, retaining the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory taxation through public (government) funding. The magic subjects and teaching methods are nontraditional to any national curriculum. Early Period Little is certain about the foundation of the DARK magic school, as nearly no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it were written during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and are largely based on legend. However, some historians have traced its foundation back to the early Roman Kingdom and Numa Pompilius the king of Rome. Numa Pompilius was a Sabine and the Sabines of Persia were famous as magician-astrologers. From very early on the Roman Kingdom came into contact with Greek culture and was influenced by it. The alphabet, weights and measures, coinage, many gods and cults (see interpretatio Romana) as well as temples, mystery schools and akademeia (Greek Ἀκαδημία) were copied from ancient Greek models. And there is no doubt the magic school is decended from a Greek prototype. The magic school was thought to be located in the Palatinae (or Palace House) around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in Central Italy. The term "schola" was commonly used in the early 4th century to refer to organized corps of the imperial retinue and derives from the fact that they occupied specific rooms or chambers in the Palatinae. The Codex Spirensis, a codex that was known to have existed in the library of the Cathedral Chapter at Speyer in 1542 (but which was lost before 1672 and cannot now be located), mentions the late Roman Republic Scholae Tenebris (literally "dark school", in Greek: Σχολαὶ, Scholai) an elite magical guard, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, although, there is no direct evidence that Constantine established the Scholae Tenebris. The Emperor retained direct control over the civil, military and magical scholae; however, for administrative purposes, they were eventually placed under the direction of the magister officiorum. Many scholarians in the magic school were recruited from among Germanic tribes. In the West, these were Franks and Alamanni, while in the East, Goths were employed (then under the impact of anti-Gothic policies, from the mid-5th century they were largely replaced with Armenians and Isaurians). However, evidence of the magic scholarians mentioned in primary sources indicates that the presence of native Romans in the magical Scholae Tenebris was not negligible. In the Notitia Dignitatum of the late 4th century, seven magic scholae are listed for the Eastern Empire and five for the Western half. The Notitia has many sections missing and lacunae (gaps) within sections. This is doubtless due to accumulated text losses and copying errors as it was repeatedly copied over the centuries: the earliest manuscript we possess today dates from the 15th century. The Notitia cannot therefore provide a comprehensive listing of all the Scholae in existence, which included the mysterious Scholae Tenebris (or dark school). Medieval Period The Western Roman Empire officially ended with the abdication of Romulus Augustulus (the last de facto Emperor) under pressure from Odoacer on 4 September 476, and unofficially with the death of Julius Nepos (the last de jure Emperor) in 480. As the Western Roman Empire fell into decline, a new era began in European history: the Middle Ages. The "Ludus magica" (Latin. Magic School) was retained in Ostrogothic Italy and during this time, the Western Roman Empire was supposedly re-founded as the Holy Roman Empire, though this was a primarily Germanic empire that contained little of the former territory of the Western Roman Empire. The new Germanic rulers who conquered the provinces upheld most of the Roman traditions and laws. Latin as a language of the Roman Empire never really disappeared either. It combined with neighboring Germanic and Celtic languages, giving rise to many modern Romance languages such as Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan and Romansh. Many of the invading Germanic tribes were already Christianized, although most were followers of Arianism. They quickly converted to Catholicism, gaining more loyalty from the local Roman populations, as well as the recognition and support of the powerful Catholic Church who acknowledged the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. When the Roman Catholic Church slowly began to replace Roman institutions in the West, it repudiated any connection or identification with the magic schools. In many cases it was forbidden for Catholics to study magic by the local bishop, often himself a former governor like St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Germanus of Auxerre. The ideal of the Roman Empire as a mighty Christian Empire with a single ruler seduced many powerful rulers, and under the principle of translatio imperii, the Holy Roman Empire explicitly proclaimed itself as the continuation of the Western Roman Empire, and all but expunged the magic schools in Christendom (the Christian territory of Europe). Only the magic schools in remote locations survived, such as in Galicia (Spain) and the western British Isles (Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland). Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Lombards, was crowned as Emperor of the Romans of the West by Pope Leo III in 800. Charlemagne and each of his successors continued the suppression the magic schools until the Holy Roman Empire's eventual downfall in 1806 as the result of the Napoleonic Wars. The Napoleonic wars resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and sowed the seeds of nascent nationalism in Germany and Italy that would lead to the two nations' respective consolidations later in the century. Meanwhile, the global Spanish Empire began to unravel as Nipoleonic occupation of Spain weakened Spain's hold over its colonies, providing an opening for nationalist revolutions in Spanish America. French power rose quickly as Napoleon's armies conquered much of Europe but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. As a result of this collapse, the British Empire became the foremost world power for the next century, thus beginning Pax Britannica. Later Period Pax Britannica (Latin for "the British Peace", modelled after Pax Romana) was the period of relative peace in Europe and the world (1815–1914) during which the British Empire controlled most of the key maritime trade routes and enjoyed unchallenged sea power. Though a relative latecomer in comparison to Spain and Portugal, England had been engaged during the 16th century in the settlement of Ireland, drawing on precedents dating back to the Norman invasion of 1169. With this settlement and the imposition of Penal Laws, came the influx and influence of English culture and customs to Ireland. It wasn't until the reign of Queen Victoria in 1837, that Ireland gained it's typical Magic School System seen today (with the four foundational subjects: Divination, Alchemy, Ritual and Kabbalah). Heretofore ignored since the time of the Romans, Ireland became a fertile ground for British magic and Freemasonry. Modern Period By 1939 Britain got embroiled in a global war with the rise of Nazi German aggression. It involved a vast majority of the world's nations -including the great powers- eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the allies and the axis. In a state of "Total War", the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, magicand scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Under Axis rule, various magic schools were looted and expelled (the anthroposophical society is one example) from Germany and occupied lands. Heinrich Himmler then created and organised the Nazi Grail Castle, the Wewelsburg. Not so much a place where the Grail would reside but rather a castle for his Grail Order – the SS, the Schutzstaffel – and its sacred treasures – rumoured to be the Spear of Destiny – would be brought, and from which the magical power of the Nazi regime would radiate outward. Theosophist Alice A. Bailey stated during World War II that Adolf Hitler was possessed by what she called the Dark Forces. Her follower Benjamin Creme has stated that through Hitler (and a group of equally evil men around him in Nazi Germany, together with a group of militarists in Japan and a further group around Mussolini in Italy) was released the energies of the Antichrist,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occult_Nazism#cite_note-19which, according to theosophical teachings is not an individual person but forces of destruction. The Allies also employed magic during the war effort. Alongside the aerial battle being fought overhead during the summer and autumn of 1940, there was another battle being fought simultaneously – a magical Battle of Britain. Some magicians worked for British military intelligence during the Second World War, creating large-scale ruses, deception, and camouflage. British occultist and author Dion Fortune was also hard at work, particularly in the period 1939 – 1942. Fortune utilised the members of her Society of the Inner Light, sending out letters each week instructing them to meditate every Sunday on a given subject. Rather than being destructive in nature, these missives were intended to heal the psyche of the beleaguered nationand boost national morale during the darkest years of the war. Her first magical mentor was the Irish occultist and Freemason Theodore Moriarty rumoured to have attended the Magical School in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, in the soon to be made Irish Republic. It wasn't untill 1949 the Republic of Ireland Act proclaimed Ireland a republic by removing the remaining duties of the monarch. Ireland consequently withdrew from the British Commonwealth. The Magic School in Ireland soon incorporated the word "Republic" into its name to promote its new national identity while using the old Latin "tenebris" translated into "Dark" as an acronym for its four magical core subjects: divination, alchemy, ritual and kabbalah. While it ranks among the wealthiest countries in the world today in terms of GDP, Ireland was one of the most impoverished countries in Europe while it was a part of the United Kingdom and for decades after independence. Economic protectionism was dismantled in the late 1950s and Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973. Economic liberalism from the late 1980s onwards resulted in rapid economic expansion, particularly from 1995 to 2007, which became known as the Celtic Tiger period. An unprecedented financial crisis beginning in 2008 ended this era of rapid economic growth. Up until this financial crash the DARK Republic Magic School remained closed to those not ordinarily from a magical family background. For the past two hundred years, children of past pupils would automatically have secured a place in the magic school, but now the school is open to those ungrounded in any magical tradition.